Cat’s Back wins coveted Joe Goodwin Award

The CAMRA Joe Goodwin Award for Best Street Corner Local is not given annually due to lack of good candidates but this year one of the joint winners is the Cat’s Back near Putney.

This most unusual pub used to be on the Thames Path in the days when the route was inland between the River Wandle and Wandsworth Park. The return to the river was by way of Point Pleasant where you had to walk past the Cat’s Back.

Today, when reaching Prospect House, it’s worth turning up Point Pleasant a few yards to visit the Cat’s Back for lunch or just a drink.

The citation reads: “The Cat’s Back is a back-street jewel, with its interwar tiling and fenestration still intact on its external walls. The existing bar counter has a newly-salvaged top, and there’s new mix-and-match seating.

The ‘stripped’ patterning of the wallpaper may not be to everyone’s taste, but the plethora of wholly relevant archive photos on the walls of this highly interesting part of town are illuminating.